Budgeting/Savings Check-in?

momofcatan · September 2014

Would anyone be interested in a budgeting/savings check-in? In was inspired by @ColieAnn31 's post, so many of the ladies here have great advice and I know being accountable to others always helps keep me on track. I would be happy to post a weekly check-in if there is interest.

daffy2k · September 2014

I think that's a great idea. It would also be a good place to post helpful money-saving tips and strategies so we can each improve on our household budgets (ie. meal plans/recipes, new discount sites, coupons, etc)

ColieAnn31 · September 2014

I think it's a great idea too. I'm starting my crack down on spending today!!

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

Sounds great!

Cricket81 · September 2014

Love this idea

The blogger over at budgetbytes is doing a SNAP challenge this month where she is trying to keep her budget to what is allowed by government support (I think it's something crazy like $30 a week). I am not prepared to do anything that drastic, but she's got some great recipes going on.

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

@kh59‌ posted about a cookbook by Leanne Brown called Good and Cheap that also does a budget based on SNAP. We've tried a bunch of things and loved them. I'm never buying croutons again, they are so easy to make at home with wheat bread.

Forgot to mention this cookbook is free to print or download.

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

I checked out one of Suze Orman's books at the library that I started last night. I also liked one of Dave Ramsey's books.

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

baby Gs mommy said:
@Lizzybizzy80‌ I really like Dave Ramsey. I'm on a waiting list for Ormans book.

Although, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel but a lot of people have success with ramseys strategies. He's on the radio for a couple of hours and hearing his advice and the people calling into thank him gives me hope lol.

There's always hope! We did the debt snowball and are down to my consolidated federal student loan and our mortgage. We are not hardcore though and started putting a lot more in savings / retirement instead of focusing on my loans after talking to a financial advisor.

We stopped using credit cards. I didn't like the cash envelopes so we just use our debit card and track budgets on mint.com. We're definitely not perfect and still overspend in a lot of areas but we are light years away from where we started.

momofcatan · September 2014

I'm excited! I'm going to do it on Wednesday if that's OK.

momofcatan · September 2014

I'm excited thinking of so many fun check-in questions I could ask. I feel like such a nerd.

kh59 · September 2014

Lizzybizzy80 said:

@kh59‌ posted about a cookbook by Leanne Brown called Good and Cheap that also does a budget based on SNAP. We've tried a bunch of things and loved them. I'm never buying croutons again, they are so easy to make at home with wheat bread. Forgot to mention this cookbook is free to print or download.

Glad you're enjoying it! I've been eating the chocolate zucchini muffins for breakfast lately...mmmm...

needanustart · September 2014

This seems like the right place to drop this question...

DH and I are thinking about getting credit cards that offer great rewards or cash back and paying for just about everything monthly with them, and then just paying them off monthly to avoid interest. We're both pretty disciplined and have always been good at staying within budget but this strategy scares the crap out of me! It makes sense in theory because we would love to get cards that gave us airline miles and basically be earning free flights with our normal spending. Does anyone else do this? We only have our mortgage as debt right now.

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

@kh59‌ those sound yummy! I love the banana pancakes and pumpkin oatmeal. I'd never thought of buying tubs of plain yogurt and adding different flavors or making my own popcorn. My brother was telling me about buying eggs already boiled and peeled and I felt like a pioneer woman compared to him.

WasNotWas · September 2014

calikat80 said:

This seems like the right place to drop this question...

DH and I are thinking about getting credit cards that offer great rewards or cash back and paying for just about everything monthly with them, and then just paying them off monthly to avoid interest. We're both pretty disciplined and have always been good at staying within budget but this strategy scares the crap out of me! It makes sense in theory because we would love to get cards that gave us airline miles and basically be earning free flights with our normal spending. Does anyone else do this? We only have our mortgage as debt right now.

I cannot do this because I am an animal (seriously, I can't have a credit card, it will be maxed out in days), but MH does this with no problem, especially with his work/travel expenses. As a result we have never paid for a flight or a hotel in the 9 years we have been together (and we travel a lot)

kh59 · September 2014

@calikat80 We do this with groceries and gas on a card that gets 6% and 3% back respectively in those two categories. We track our spending on mint.com to avoid going over budget and pay the card off in full every month. I think it can be worth it if you find the right card and know you're disciplined about not buying crap you don't need or carrying a balance.

WasNotWas · September 2014

I wish I could pay daycare with a credit card...imagine all the reward points!!

needanustart · September 2014

kh59 said:

@calikat80 We do this with groceries and gas on a card that gets 6% and 3% back respectively in those two categories. We track our spending on mint.com to avoid going over budget and pay the card off in full every month. I think it can be worth it if you find the right card and know you're disciplined about not buying crap you don't need or carrying a balance.

Yeah we are both super disciplined and have always paid off our cards anyway, the idea of getting a whopper bill at the end of the month just scares me. I think if we made sure to track our spending to keep it in check I'd be better with it.

@majwv8 now that you mentioned tuition I paid for my masters on my credit card and we got several free flights because of it come to think of it. So I guess I have done this before, just not on such a broad scale.

needanustart · September 2014

42Butterflies said:

I wish I could pay daycare with a credit card...imagine all the reward points!!
I don't so this, but we use our debit card. Does yours not allow cards?

Ours doesn't allow cards at all- check or cash and it drives me NUTS! But really none of the places around here take cards.

momofcatan · September 2014

kh59 said:

@calikat80 We do this with groceries and gas on a card that gets 6% and 3% back respectively in those two categories. We track our spending on mint.com to avoid going over budget and pay the card off in full every month. I think it can be worth it if you find the right card and know you're disciplined about not buying crap you don't need or carrying a balance.

Similar to this. A lot of what I know about finance I learned from my parents and they insist credit cards are best (obviously only if you can use them responsibly). We use a credit card for everything we can and pay of the full balance every single month. Make sure it's a credit card with no annual fee and straight cashback is simplest if you can find one that gives you more than 1-2%. We have enough in our savings account that I'm not worried about paying it off if we splurge one month. We also use mint.com to track our spending.

WasNotWas · September 2014

@42Butterflies said:

WasNotWas said:
I wish I could pay daycare with a credit card...imagine all the reward points!!
I don't so this, but we use our debit card. Does yours not allow cards?

Cash, check, or debit card only

Lizzybizzy80 · September 2014

We had one card that earned points for travel. We never carried a balance but I realized we were spending more and more with the rationale that we were getting miles. We put the card away, didn't cut it up or cancel it, and just pay (eta cash) for our trips.

daffy2k · September 2014

@calikat80‌ - we use a rewards credit card for all purchases and pay it off at the end of the month. Like a few people have pointed out, shop around for the best card. Depending on how much you spend, sometimes the ones with annual fees do actually give the best return (as long as you spend enough annually to make up the fee and reap a better reward than the no fee card). We have 2 different ones. A free rewards card that gives is points at our preferred grocery store everywhere we shop, and double when we buy groceries. We also have a card with a fee that we use for all company expenses (DH is self employed). He puts every single business purchase on this card and we reap the massive travel benefits.

needanustart · September 2014

Thanks for all the words of points and rewards encouragement ladies! Now I have to figure out how to pick a dang card which could make my head explode. I'm leaning Amex but I have to do some more research. We've had airline rewards cards up until now and i'd rather not be locked into one airline when traveling. I love "gaming" rewards and points with other areas in our life (sometimes I swear CVS is paying me to shop there when I finish my coupons and promos at the register) so once I have the right card I will be on to a new numbers game to get OCD on

numbersgirl08 · September 2014

@calikat80‌ we do the same as @WorkinIt‌ hubby. All money goes on travel credit cards and we've done some legit vacations from it. Business class to Italy for free and staying at the St Regis in Rome, business class to Germany and free hotel rooms, completely free stay at a Westin in the Dominican Republic, lots of trips between home and CHI for free.

There are a lot of strategies out there. I can tell you what we use the most. Like @steamboat123‌ we love the Chase Sapphire card. This is how we get all our flights between CHI and home. We transfer our points to British Airways miles and then buy American flights from BA because they have the best flight point prices for short flights.

We also love love love our Starwood credit card. We put the majority of our expenses on it and have stayed at so many hotels for free or cheap.

We got the US Airways cc awhile back and with the bonus got our tix to Germany. Once that was done we were done with the card though.

We also just signed up for Delta credit cards because they had a big bonus and we fly Delta a lot.

MH is a wealth management advisor so he is on top of credit scores an making sure we don't hurt our credit. Just be aware of how it might affect your credit score if you're going to be taking out big loans anytime soon. And we always alway always pay them off each month and treat them the same as cash.

To get started, read some of the travel blogs! A favorite of mine that would probably resonate with us here is Mommy Points. Also The Points Guy, View From the Wing, Frugal Travel Guy. Keeping up with these blogs keeps us up to date on the good deals out there and if anything new shows up.

momofcatan · September 2014

numbersgirl08 said:

@calikat80‌ we do the same as @WorkinIt‌ hubby. All money goes on travel credit cards and we've done some legit vacations from it. Business class to Italy for free and staying at the St Regis in Rome, business class to Germany and free hotel rooms, completely free stay at a Westin in the Dominican Republic, lots of trips between home and CHI for free. There are a lot of strategies out there. I can tell you what we use the most. Like @steamboat123‌ we love the Chase Sapphire card. This is how we get all our flights between CHI and home. We transfer our points to British Airways miles and then buy American flights from BA because they have the best flight point prices for short flights. We also love love love our Starwood credit card. We put the majority of our expenses on it and have stayed at so many hotels for free or cheap. We got the US Airways cc awhile back and with the bonus got our tix to Germany. Once that was done we were done with the card though. We also just signed up for Delta credit cards because they had a big bonus and we fly Delta a lot. MH is a wealth management advisor so he is on top of credit scores an making sure we don't hurt our credit. Just be aware of how it might affect your credit score if you're going to be taking out big loans anytime soon. And we always alway always pay them off each month and treat them the same as cash. To get started, read some of the travel blogs! A favorite of mine that would probably resonate with us here is Mommy Points. Also The Points Guy, View From the Wing, Frugal Travel Guy. Keeping up with these blogs keeps us up to date on the good deals out there and if anything new shows up.

I am in awe. ^:)^ I want to do this but it seems so overwhelming (also I feel like the deals aren't as great in Canada)

daffy2k · September 2014

I think you are probably right, @momofcatan‌. I don't think the deals are quite as good in Canada, but it also all depends how much you put on the cards... We have an RBC Avion card and now that I've finally convinced DH that putting everything on the card is the best way to go, we earn enough for flights to Hawaii for both of us every year (or anywhere, but that's about the amount of miles earned).

ETA (hit post before I was done) my dad also used to use his Avion card when we owned a bulk fuel station. He bought all the fuel with his card and took our family of 6 on extravagant vacations every spring break. The miles paid for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc.

daffy2k · September 2014

I can own that @steamboat123‌ . We complain a lot about paying more and not getting the same deals as in the US, but sometimes I forget about all the advantages that we take for granted. I'm pretty lucky to live in the country that I do, and I need to remember to be grateful for my blessings and not dwell on what I don't/can't have.

momofcatan · September 2014

@seamboat123 So will I

. DH and I just visited friends of ours who live in Buffalo and started day dreaming about moving there. We could get 3 houses for what we paid for ours, and all the great deals at Target! It only 5 minutes for me to say "But I'm not giving up universal healthcare so that's just not happening".

needanustart · September 2014

steamboat123 said:

momofcatan said:
@seamboat123 So will I . DH and I just visited friends of ours who live in Buffalo and started day dreaming about moving there. We could get 3 houses for what we paid for ours, and all the great deals at Target! It only 5 minutes for me to say "But I'm not giving up universal healthcare so that's just not happening".
Plus it's Buffalo! There is a reason it is cheap.

F you boat. F you.

needanustart · September 2014

@steamboat123 hey we're 2-0. Better than the patriots these days

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